The couple were legally married in South Africa, but also would like to see their native homeland introduce marriage equality.

The Daily Record reports David Shuttleton attacked Ms Richards-Hill’s reputation by sending her hate-filled tweets with the hashtags “child abuse” and “danger to children”, and has since posted many other abusive messages about her on Twitter.

He also tweeted Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon about Ms Richards-Hill, who also works as an education adviser to the Scottish Government.

Mr Shuttleton has now been made to pay £40,000 plus costs by the Court of Session – Scotland’s highest civil court.

The antique dealer who trades under the name “The Chairman of Bearsden” has vowed to get the ruling overturned.

Speaking to the Record, the divorced father of two, described himself as “an innocent Scotsman” who had fallen victim to “the homosexual machine”.

He added: “It’s an absolute scandal that homosexuals have got such power in our community. It’s an absolutely scandalous abuse of our laws.”

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